Read Online Malcolm'S Honor (Historical, 519) by Jillian Hart - Free Book Online

could not fight. Hestood like stone in the night, living stone that could not be chipped or beaten or destroyed.
    She trembled. “You’ll take me to Caradoc and the king.”
    â€œAye, but ’twill be a gentler fate after enduring my wrath.” He drove the tip of his sword into the soft mossy earth, impaling it there.
    Elin watched, horror spearing through her chest and into her heart, as he pulled the length of rope from his saddle and dragged her hard against him. He held her with bruising force to the span of his steeled chest.
    â€œLady Elinore of Evenbough, daughter to Philip of Evenbough, suspected traitor to King Edward, you are my prisoner. You have attempted to kill the king’s knights—”
    â€œI meant only to sicken—”
    â€œSilence.” His roar echoed through the forest. “Another word and I shall gag you as I did your father. I will do my duty to my king and bring you to him alive, but how I bring you and in what condition, the good sovereign cares not.”
    He felt her every tremble, for she was tucked beneath his chin and caught in the shelter of his arms. She was slight and delicate—easily crushed. Now she seemed aware of that fact as she leaned against him, rigid with fear, unable to stand on her own.
    Good, ’tis as it should be. She ought to be afraid.
    He bound her wrists tightly, so she could not escape. The small noise in her throat, the one that said he’d bruised her, made him wince. He hated treating a woman thus, but ’twas not his choice. ’Twas Edward’s. And Malcolm’s oath to serve his king drove him now.
    â€œBut my father’s mare—”
    â€œWill follow us or nay. ’Tis not my concern.” He swung her up onto his saddle.
    She clutched the stallion’s mane with her delicate fingers. “But my herbs—”
    â€œNot another word.” He caught her ankle before she could level him with a kick. He bound her well, wise to her tricks of defense, and mounted behind her.
    â€œBut my satchel is in the tree—”
    â€œWhere you are headed, worldly possessions are of no concern. Now, you’ve disobeyed my order to stay quiet. Open your mouth.”
    â€œPrithee, do not force a gag on me.”
    He could see her clearly. The deep pools of her eyes gleamed with honest terror. She was daughter to a brutal man, and at the thought Malcolm’s chest tightened. No doubt she expected all manner of brutality from the land’s fiercest knight.
    But he did not harm women, regardless of how they treated him. He relented on the gag, certain now that she would obey him and remain silent. He sheathed his sword and gathered the reins. Imprisoned in the strength of his arms, the warrior woman was subdued enough.
    For now.
    He spurred his warhorse into a well-disciplined lope and protected her the best he could from the slap of stinging limbs. She still trembled. As she sat in the cradle of his thighs, he was not unaware of her soft, womanly curves. Even through his armor, he could feel her heat and her temptation.
    If his shaft hardened and his blood thickened, ’twas a weakness a man who lived and died by the sword could ill afford.
    Where once he had vowed to help her, he was now bound by duty to his king to condemn her.

Chapter Five
    A fraid to say even one word for fear of the discomfort of a gag, Elin endured the long hours trapped against Malcolm’s steeled chest. She was not unaware of his maleness, of the solid man hewn of muscle and bone, or of the hardness of his shaft, unmistakable against the back of her thigh.
    He held her trapped against him endlessly as he drove his stallion across vale and hill and through a world brushed by shades of night. No other living creature stirred until dawn grayed the edges of the eastern horizon and the first birds woke the world with song.
    Still she felt the hardness of the man and his virility. His arousal remained solid and rigid,